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Beaux-Arts Architecture
Beaux-Arts 'architecture'a› (/ˌboʊˈzɑr/; French: bozaʁ) expresses the academicneoclassical architectural style taught at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. The style"Beaux Arts" is above all the cumulative product of two-and-a-half centuries of instruction under the authority, first, of the Académie royale d'architecture (1671–1793), then, following the French Revolution of the late 18th century, of the Architecture section of the''Académie des Beaux-Arts'' (1795— ). The organization under the Ancien Régime of the competition for the "Grand Prix de Rome" in architecture, offering a chance to study in Rome, imprinted its codes and aesthetic on the course of instruction, which culminated during the Second Empire (1852–1870) and the Third Republic that followed. The style of instruction that produced Beaux-Arts architecture continued without major interruption until 1968.1 The Beaux-Arts style heavily influenced the architecture of the United States in the period from 1880 to 1920.2 Non-French European architects of the period 1860–1914 tended to gravitate toward their own national academic centers rather than fixating on Paris. British architects of Imperial classicism, in a development culminating in Sir Edwin Lutyens's New Delhi government buildings, followed a somewhat more independent course, owing to the cultural politics of the late 19th century. The Beaux-Arts training emphasized the mainstream examples of Imperial Roman architecture betweenAugustus and the Severan emperors, Italian Renaissance, and French and Italian Baroque models especially, but the training could then be applied to a broader range of models: Quattrocento Florentinepalace fronts or French late Gothic. American architects of the Beaux-Arts generation often returned toGreek models, which had a strong local history in the American Greek Revival of the early 19th century. For the first time, repertories of photographs supplemented meticulous scale drawings and on-site renderings of details. Some aspects of Beaux-Arts approach could degenerate into mannerisms. Beaux-Arts training made great use of agrafes, clasps that links one architectural detail to another; to interpenetration of forms, a Baroque habit; to "speaking architecture" (architecture parlante) in which supposed appropriateness of symbolism could be taken to literal-minded extremes. Beaux-Arts training emphasized the production of quick conceptual sketches, highly finished perspective presentation drawings, close attention to the program, and knowledgeable detailing. Site considerations tended toward social and urbane contexts.3 All architects-in-training passed through the obligatory stages — studying antique models, constructing analos, analyses reproducing Greek or Roman models, "pocket" studies and other conventional steps — in the long competition for the few desirable places at the Académie de France à Rome (housed in the Villa Medici) with traditional requirements of sending at intervals the presentation drawings called envois de Rome. Beaux-Arts architecture depended on sculptural decoration along conservative modern lines, employing French and Italian Baroque and Rococo formulas combined with an impressionistic finish and realism. In the façade shown to the right, Diana grasps the cornice she sits on in a natural action typical of Beaux-Arts integration of sculpture with architecture. Slightly overscaled details, bold sculptural supporting consoles, rich deep cornices, swags and sculptural enrichments in the most bravura finish the client could afford gave employment to several generations of architectural modellers and carvers of Italian and Central European backgrounds. A sense of appropriate idiom at the craftsman level supported the design teams of the first truly modern architectural offices. Though the Beaux-Arts style embodies an approach to a regenerated spirit within the grand traditions rather than a set of motifs, principal characteristics of Beaux-Arts architecture included: Alternating male and femalemascarons decorate keystones on theSan Francisco City Hall * Flat roof2 * Rusticated and raised first story2 * Hierarchy of spaces, from "noble spaces"—grand entrances and staircases— to utilitarian ones * Arched windows2 * Arched and pedimented doors2 * Classical details:2 references to a synthesis of historicist styles and a tendency to eclecticism; fluently in a number of "manners" * Symmetry2 * Statuary,2 sculpture (bas-relief panels, figural sculptures, sculptural groups), murals, mosaics, and other artwork, all coordinated in theme to assert the identity of the building * Classical architectural details:2 balustrades, pilasters, garlands, cartouches, acroteria, with a prominent display of richly detailed clasps (agrafes), brackets and supporting consoles * Subtle polychromy